Tennis-Joker Djokovic sails through in Paris first round

PARIS

PARIS May 26 Novak Djokovic distracted the Roland Garros crowd but kept his focus as he made light work of Portuguese Joao Sousa to reach the second round of the French Open with a 6-1 6-2 6-4 win on Monday.

The Serbian second seed clinked bottles with a ball boy he had invited to sit on his chair as the umpire was pondering whether to halt play again as light rain fell on Philippe Chatrier court.

The match had been first interrupted by rain when Djokovic, looking to win the only grand slam title missing from his collection, was 4-1 up in the first set.

It did not derail Djokovic, who barely blinked when he conceded a late break and hit 37 winners to set up a meeting with local favourite Jeremy Chardy. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Robert Woodward)